Republican Chuck Hagel Defends Obama on Foreign Policy, Blasts Clinton/Giuliani Approach

(h/t pmb)

Thank you, Mr. Hagel.

Bloomberg reports:

Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton were “recklessly irresponsible” and acting like “cowboys” for rejecting calls for direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program, charged Senator Chuck Hagel, a top Republican lawmaker.

Hagel, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee who supports talks, was critical of Giuliani, the top Republican contender, and Clinton, a New York senator and leader of the Democratic field, for lambasting presidential rival Barack Obama, who proposed such discussions.

When world leaders “hear leading presidential candidates talk like cowboys with the lowest common denominator being `I can be tougher than you, I’ll go to war before you or we aren’t going to talk to anybody,’ that’s recklessly irresponsible,” Hagel said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” scheduled to air today.

…

Hagel, who decided not to run for re-election next year and has ruled out a presidential bid, said he wouldn’t endorse anyone in the Republican primary.

Yet he said he may back a candidate from either political party or an independent in the general election.

“I will see what the options are,” he said.

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